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Dream Prism |
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www.prismsofreality.com |
Lucid dreaming is knowing you are dreaming while you are dreaming.
This may seem like a very simple thing, but in actuality it takes a great deal of awareness to be able to know you are dreaming while you are dreaming.
Buddha was once asked what his disciples practiced. He replied: "We sit, we walk, we eat." The questioner balked at this answer saying: "Doesn't everyone
sit, walk and eat?" Buddha replied: The difference is that "when we sit we know we are sitting. When we walk
we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating." Similarly, a lucid dream is dreaming and knowing you are dreaming.
What is dreaming?
Maybe, this is the better question. Is dreaming nothing more than a series of thought, images, or emotions occurring during sleep, as the Webster dictionary claims? Or is it something more? Is it possible we travel outside our bodies during sleep and the dream is nothing more than our conscious mind trying to make sense out of our subconscious activities? Even if we did experience astral traveling while sleeping is it nothing more than a dream, or is there some sort of reality to it? So now we are down to the most basics of questions: what is reality?
What is reality?
Webster defines something real as something that is "not imaginary." Imaginary being only those things that exist in the imagination. Is this a good definition? Doesn't what is "imaginary" depend on your point of view? Suppose, for example, I lived in a tribe cut-off from civilization and then some
snooping anthropologist discovered me and my tribe. This anthropologist brings stories of skyscrapers, telephones, television, microwaves and the like. Wouldn't I think he was making things up? Wouldn't those items be purely
"imaginary" to me? They are imaginary because at this point in time, they are not part of my present reality. So, we come back to the idea that to define something as being imaginary one must decide whether it is part of our present reality or not. This is not a good definition because what is real is dependent on
what we percieve to be imaginary, and vice-versa. Thus, we automatically limit ourselves by defining what is real and what is not. Better to just say, it's up to your point of view to decide what's imaginary and what's real.
Another case in point: modern day physics. Aren't we now taught that all matter is made of atoms made of electrons, protons and neutrons? Aren't these electrons whirling around in mostly empty space? It is common physics that suggests that
all physicality is mostly made up of empty space. However, we don't percieve things are being vaporous, do we? No, we do not. Imagine for an instant that you were small enough to see an atom for what it is, wouldn't your view of reality change
drastically? Modern day physics also teaches us that matter is energy and vice-versa. Einstein's famous theorem not only relates to bombs but to all physical mass. Supposing there was an equally important "law of nature" that related our light of consciousness (energy) to our physical mass? As new theorems come along the definition of our universe and present
reality changes along with them. The only thing stable and concrete about any "reality" is that it is always changing.
I will add one more example before I finish.
Subjects under hypnosis can IMAGINE all sorts of things and experience them as REAL. Why? Under hypnotic suggestion they had been led to
adopt a different framework or a different point of view that now skews what they believe is real and what is imaginary.
So, what's the true definition of REAL anyway? Is real only what two people observe to be true? Is reality really as
objective as we'd like to believe or does it depend on the consensus of the observers? There are many spiritual traditions that teach us that maybe what we think is REAL is really a DREAM, and we are too caught
up in our own imaginations that we fail to see the truth of what real life is. Yes, we recognize we are lucid dreaming when we say "I know I'm dreaming. I'm awake now." Thus, we recognize the dream for what it is. However, when will
we open our eyes in the physical and say: "Yes, I know I'm awake. I'm dreaming now?"
Years ago, I read in a book that one should construct an imaginary "temple" to meditate in and raise one's consciousness. I liked the idea and so spent a bit of time meditating in my temple of light. One night, I awoke in my dream and I was sitting in that temple perfectly lucid. Well, there wasn't much more to do except to keep meditating and so I continued. Soon, the temple brightened considerably and then, much to my surprise, the ground I was sitting on began to shake. The walls of the temple fell away from me as I sat there contemplating the "destruction" or disappearance of my beloved temple. It didn't frighten me however, because I knew I was dreaming. I watched the walls fall away and the light come streaming in and then the walls seemed to vanish. And that was when the thought hit me: "What's behind the dream? When the dream ends and all things vanish, is there something there?"
Before we explore that question, we need to make sure that while we're off exploring that we are exercising proper caution during our travels. This is commonly referred to as "psychic protection." John Fitzsimon's prayer page is the best example of an all-inclusive prayer and visualization technique to help keep us focused and confident. I recommend you visit this page and use his techniques to assist in having positive experiences as you explore your reality. In fact, it was using his "miniature sun" visualization that helped me to answer the question of what lies beyond the dream.
About six months after the previous dream, I had another dream in which I was on an icy hill trying to climb down and yet keep from falling. It was a steep hill, it was cold and there was little vegetation on which to grab onto. Suddenly, I lost my footing and grabbed on to the barest twig sticking up through the ice as I began to be frightened about falling down the icy slope. "I've got to keep from falling!" I sweated as I thought these words. "But, the gravity will make me fall sooner or later. The twig bent under my weight and I inhaled sharply. A voice above me broke through my fear stating the most obvious of facts: "There's no gravity in a dream, Claire." Oh! Yeah! So, there I was lucid, ready to start the experiment I had wanted to try for the longest time. I was going to meditate myself into a hot, bright, golden miniature sun and see what happened. I stood perfectly still, holding onto the twig because I didn't want to waste a moment of lucidity dropping it. I began the meditation and watched as the dream began to slowly fade from my line of sight. It was like a circle of light that surrounded me that now was IMPLODING onto me and I was watching and waiting. Waiting for it to reach me, because I wanted to know, what lies behind the dream? The implosion crept towards me fading the landscape as it approached into a white light of nothingness and soon, it crept up my legs, and as I watched in amazement, it went down the hand holding the twig and "WIPED OUT" my arm. And that's when I knew: BOOM! I shattered into a thousand droplets of light that gushed like a GIGANTIC fountain out of the dream and into space. I was me, and yet I HAD NO BODY. And more than me, I was ALL of me, consciouness in infinity. And when I coalesced again, I knew I was no longer in the dream. I was OUTSIDE my body looking at it from a vantage point on the ceiling. So, that is the first great spiritual lesson lucid dreaming can teach you: YOU ARE NOT YOUR BODY, YOU ARE YOUR SPIRIT. Now, where do we go from there?
If I'm not real, is ANYBODY ELSE real?Somehow, the notion that we are lucid dreaming makes some people believe that nothing is REAL. This is the opposite of believing EVERYTHING is real in a lucid dream. The ones that believe EVERYTHING is real, make up elaborate explanations of how things in the astral can be different than things in real life, and how it all makes sense. The ones that believe nothing is real, think this excuses them from perpetrating all sorts of negative actions on other people, i.e. figments of their imagination. The truth is much the same for real life as it is for dreams, in my opinion. We have imagination that can create "thoughtforms" that may or may not make it from the idea stage into physical form and we have those things that are inherently part of this reality. What's peculiar about the people that believe that NOTHING is real, is they fail to realize that they themselves are real and thus it negates their assumption already. So, we come to the idea that there are some things that hold inherent "INTEGRITY" in a particular reality which may not be the case in a different dimension or reality. How do we tell the difference then between what is REAL in this context versus what is IMAGINARY in the same context? We come down to the basic building block of life: the light of consciousness. Similarly, all holograms are created from the bending of light and interference patterns of light. Currently, there are some physics theories that suggest that it's highly probable that our "reality" is nothing more than a hologram created by mass consciousness. To see the "scientific" theory of the holographic universe, visit my Science Prism. Here, I am dealing mostly with dream "theory." Thus, if you can accept it, we are nothing more than prisms that reflect light creating images as we go along. If you reflect your own light at an image, it will either maintain it's integrity and assert its REALNESS or it will dissolve in the interference of its image with your own light source. Learn to RADIATE light and you will master another spiritual lesson that can best be done "visually" in lucid dreaming: We are sources of light. Experiment for yourself in your own lucid dreams with light and you will find yourself thoroughly amazed. Ever have an out-of-body experience at night and find yourself wondering where that light that's following you is coming from? It's you.
What can I do with my light?Expand your own light. Know your own light and try to raise the level of vibration of your own light. You can do this in the physical as well as in dreams. Prayer and meditation are wonderful for increasing positive vibration and giving your light a higher quality. This simple inner awareness will aide you in contacting your inner guides and teachers. Without your own inner work, it will be more difficult for them to reach you. Another way to expand your own light while helping another is healing work in lucid dreaming. You can send your prayers, thoughts, mediations and light directly to the person who needs your help. They may not feel it on a conscious level, but their own subconscious light will recieve it and be helped by it. Remember always to send it with the intent that it achieve only what is in "the highest spiritual good" of the person you are healing. When you learn to radiate light around you, radiate it to others in your dreams. What is their reaction? Do they remain in your dream or do they dissolve?
Are there other things besides light that are REAL?Here is an interesting question. We have now come to the totally heretical notion that "light" is a concrete "quantity" that is more real that the physical matter it enlivens. Why? Because dreams teach us that most of the possessions and things we cherish in real life are nothing but figments of our imagination. Think about it. If you can dream up whatever house, car, lifestyle you want in a lucid dream, of what value is MONEY? For that matter, if anyone can have whatever car, house, lifestyle they want in a lucid dream, where's the status normally associated with those items? It sort of wipes out our ideas of who is "wealthy" and who is not, right? I know for myself, there came a time when I wanted to know: Is this all there is? What is the point of luxury and desire fullfillment if it isn't real? What are the true realities in life? Amazingly enough, we are back to the virtues of spiritual teachings. Love, light, kindness, character, patience, self-control; all these "intangible" qualities are what are REAL in dreams. Your light and natural vibration is the signature of your total sum learning of the qualities of the spirit. You want to be beautiful? Learn to love. You want to be wealthy? Learn to give. These qualities will show up BRIGHT AND CLEAR in your inner light and those that can sense your vibration will know in this reality as well as the next what type of person you are.
Intention is very important in lucid dreaming. Whatever your intent, it becomes manifest. Thoughts ARE things, folks. Sorry, but true, especially in dreams. The more control you get the more the stray thoughts you have INSTANTLY MATERIALIZE. You think this only happens in dreams? NO. Your thoughts determine your day to day life as well. Thought control is kin to awareness. That is why it is important to keep a positive attitude despite our outside circumstances. We created those circumstances and if we keep feeding them that negativity, guess what? They'll hang around longer. Anyway, to expand your level of thought control, there are various exercises you can try. I like to use memory as my link to self-awareness and thought control. For instance, when you are lucid dreaming, do you remember your full name? Ask yourself many questions about who you are in real life. If you focus your thoughts correctly, you will get the "correct" answers. If you don't, you may find yourself unable to remember or providing yourself with "inaccurate" information. This can be verified when you wake up, obviously. Next, who is your family? What are their names? Next, what were you dreaming before you became lucid? Did you have any other dreams that related to this dream? Did you dream other dreams on different days that related to this dream? How far back can you remember sequentially? Can you remember a past life? Can you remember a past family? Can you remember a past name? Can you remember a past location? What do all these "past" things mean to you? Can you remember the future? What's interesting about these exercises is that you don't need to be able to create anything in the dream to do them. They are merely aides in self-awareness and thought control. They also tend to challenge our idea of time and space as being a reality.
Once you experience your own light and learn to radiate to others, there are MANY things you can do. Here and in dreams. Requesting help from higher guides and your divine light forces is just a prayer away. Begin to use the techniques you have mastered in your dreams in your waking life. A lot harder, no?;-)
Physical reality is where we build our "spiritual muscles." It should be just like going to the gym. Practice thought control by adopting a positive attitude and lifestyle. Listen to uplifting music, hang around uplifting friends, and follow your dreams.
Also, begin to explore the
reality of other prisms of light in this universe. Some of them are dead people, hanging around without realizing they are dead. By meeting them and talking with them, you can help expand your own understanding of the nature of reality. You can help them
move towards their spiritual home by helping them realize they are dead and requesting assistance from their divine light forces to help you move them home. Maybe a few courses in learning to live your spiritual principles in physicality will appeal to you
by then. It is always best to do this under the guidance of a teacher before venturing out on your own, but whatever happens, I am confident it will be for your highest spiritual good as I so intend it to be.
Copyright © 1999 Claire Moylan